


Sea

by MikeWritesThings (orphan_account)



Series: One Shots [3]
Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Human AU, M/M, mermaid, mermaid au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-24
Updated: 2015-03-24
Packaged: 2018-03-19 11:49:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,120
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3609048
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/MikeWritesThings
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Alfred doesn't like the sea at all, and it all goes downhill when he meets a merman....</p><p>(Sucky description is sucky)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sea

The wind was howling in a storm that rocked the boat back and forth, causing Alfred to grip the railing and swear silently to himself, wondering why he even agreed to this. Why did he? He didn’t even like the beach, and yet here he was, having agreed with his group of wild friends that he would accompany them on a trip to an island somewhere near England. He didn’t even know the name of the island-All he knew was that it was abandoned and un-populated, yet his friends decided it would be the perfect place to have wild parties.

Now, Alfred loved parties. He attended as many as possible and enjoyed the alcoholic beverages and free food served with it. The upbeat music usually flowed into his veins until he felt like he was one with it and he danced to his heart’s content. His best friends for life, Gilbert, Mathias, and his own brother, Matthew, usually spent hours and sometimes even nights at these festivities.

But this was different. Alfred had read many books where authors described the wonderful feeling of sea spray hitting your face and the beautiful sight of sea foam frothing below, gentle waves rocking the boat and a pleasant breeze. For Alfred, however, it was completely different. The sea spray blinded him and the sea foam only reminded him of tales where some poor, lone man drowned and was turned into foam. The waves, no matter how violent or how gentle, made his head spin and the wind just made him feel like he was going to be blown away easily like a piece of paper.

To put it simply, Alfred hated the ocean and the sea and boats and just everything at the moment. He didn’t even join his friends who were getting wasted on alcohol on the deck. His brother’s voice summoned him, demanded him, calling to him with a luring of beverage and food, but Alfred could hardly move his feet. All he could focus on was not emptying his stomach into the thrashing waters below.

Eventually his friends gave up on trying to call him to their little mini party as the night fell and the sea calmed somewhat, the island only a few short hours away. The drug of sleep was trying to drag Alfred into it’s hold, but he didn’t want to close his eyes. It was at that moment that he thought in the back of his mind that he regretted being persuaded so easily into watching Titanic. Now haunting images of innocent people being pulled under the water’s dangerous surface floated in his mind and he blanched unpleasantly.

“Bro!” Matthew called once again from the deck, snapping Alfred from his horrific daydream of drowned, pale bodies floating atop the water, “Come join in! There’s plenty to go around, eh?”

“No thanks, Mattie,” Alfred said, laughing in a nervous tic to soothe his nerves down. It was no secret he disliked the sea as he stood with his back rigid, facing the hurling waters, “I’m not in the mood, little bro, m’kay? Thanks for the offer, though.”

His brother raced down to the railing with him and looked out over the sea before looking back up at him. Alfred broke his gaze away, unable to face his brother’s smirk. The Canadian said,

“Seriously, Al? Still not over this little fear? C’mon man, what has the sea ever done to you?”

“Existed.”

Matthew rolled his eyes and clapped his hand to the other’s back, but he didn’t try to continue to persuade the American. He wouldn’t budge from his spot, no matter what. Alfred was grateful as the younger went back to the deck, probably making up some bull story about him being too terrified and crying and scared out of his wits to grow a pair of balls and join them in their partying.

The last three hours of their journey was painful, and when Alfred finally spotted a strip of tree-topped land in the distance, he let out a shout of joy and fell to his knees, letting tears and sobs of relief rack through him. Normally he pretended to be a great hero, swooping in to save the damsel in distress, but now he was more than glad to see land, land, land, and not the rocking of the boat, and crashing waves beckoning to innocent victims, waiting to pull them under.

When the boat docked at the shore, Alfred practically sprinted off of the boat and face-planted onto the pearly white sand, his sea legs wobbly on the unmoving land. After regaining his senses and taking a few practice steps, he could walk normally and followed his friends to the cabin they had rented for the next two weeks. Instantly he collapsed on a bed and made himself comfortable, intent on getting some sleep after having received none on the painful trip to the island. After stretching and kicking off his shoes, Alfred fell into a nap that was short-lived.

“Yo! Wake up, bro! We’re gonna swim!” Gilbert’s voice cut through his dreamland, bringing him abruptly into reality. Pouting, Alfred squinted his eyes open and sat up slowly, rubbing the sleep from his eyes as he glared at the albino. The self-proclaimed ‘awesome’ Prussian flashed a thumbs-up and grinned a bright smile that made Alfred want to punch his face from disturbing his sleep. 

Alfred eventually dragged himself of the bed, which he then noted wasn’t actually all that comfortable. His friends, Matthew, Mathias, Gilbert, Gilbert’s brother, Ludwig, Elizaveta, Natalia, Yekaterina, Antonio, Lovino, and Feliciano were already at the shore and had barbecue grills set out, grilling hamburgers as they played a game of tag in front of the roaring waters, swimsuits on. Even Natalia, Lovino, and Ludwig, who usually had a ‘I hate everything’ look on their faces, were smiling as they relaxed in the sun.

Alfred pulled on his American flag swim trunks-What, he was allowed to be patriotic!-and joined the others on the beach, but made sure to stay a good distance away from the swishing waves. Yekaterina grinned and beckoned him over to her, her bust forced into a bikini that looked like it would burst in any abrupt movement, and Alfred had to fight the urge to go over there to see cleavage-I mean, Yekaterina.

Instead, he opted to just shaking his head politely and watched Yekaterina let her hand fall, disappointed, but she quickly got over it as Elizaveta threw a beach ball in her face. The two girls chased after each other, laughing, and Alfred sat himself down on the hot, sun-baked sand, watching everybody enjoy themselves.

Eventually Gilbert was forced to reside under the shade like him, the albino’s skin red and irritated, rough-looking and painful. Alfred himself could feel angry sunburns forming on his shoulders and forced and slathered sunscreen all over himself before offering it to Gilbert, who accepted it like his life needed it. The two friends watched the sun sink low before everybody else retired inside, Alfred only getting up a few times to get some of the burgers and pee.

“You’re no fun, Al,” Mathias pouted, “Why didn’t ya join everybody in the fun?”

“It didn’t look so fun to me,” Alfred grumbled, “Seriously, who knows when high tide hits this place?”

“Alfred, you need to get over your fear,” Matthew said from his bed, watching the girls move around in the kitchen, making them a dinner of chicken and macaroni from the food they had brought with them, “And as soon as you do, the world will suddenly become a much better place.”

Alfred just rolled his eyes at this but wished he wasn’t afraid of water. That would certainly make his life a whole lot easier. He could join his friends in beach parties and go swimming in his neighborhood pool back at home-These thoughts swarmed his mind and he found himself vowing to join the others the next day on the beach. However, Tuesday came and went, and yet Alfred did not join the others in their beach time activities. Every time he came close, he would race back to the safety of the cabin as soon as the water neared.

The next day was the same, and on Wednesday night, Feliciano suggested he take a walk along the beach to see if that would help. Alfred actually thought that was a stupid idea, but he just shrugged and went with it, trudging along the wet sand, which was as close as he dared to the water-still twenty feet.

Hands in the pockets of his shorts, Alfred glared straight ahead, trying to block out any sounds of the crashing ocean so close to him. His heart thumped with every splash, and he had been walking for two whole hours before he decided that he should go back. The walk seemed to actually sort of help-The last few minutes he wasn’t feeling as queasy, but if he got any closer was a different story. However, progress was still progress, and he wondered if he should maybe take more walks.

It was then he noticed the series of rocks nearby-About fifty to seventy feet ahead of him. Admiring their shape and the way they shined with water in the silvery moonlight, Alfred then noticed a flash of gold. Frowning, he stepped forward, making his way over to the rocks.

He barely noticed the water slowly rising, hitting his ankles, cold in the night, too focused on the flash, wiggling movement of something shiny between the rocks. As he neared, he heard panicked breaths, until he finally reached the rocks and stepped towards them.

They were five feet in, still in the shallow waters, but dangerously sharp and close together, rough and the water was freezing his shins. It was then Alfred finally noticed he was inside the water and instantly he tensed, eyes wide, in processing mode. But a splash from the rocks brought him back to life and he peered at the rocks and was so shocked by what he saw he fell over backwards and landed on his butt, soaking his pants for sure.

It was a man. A young one at that, maybe only three or four years older than him, putting him around twenty two or twenty three. He had a head of messy, spiky blonde hair and bright green eyes, sea green eyes, and thick black brows, pale skin that glowed like the moon itself, body smooth and shining wet, drops of water illuminated by the moon. He had a decent amount of muscle-Not ripped, like Alfred was, but still a good amount of muscle, and seemed to move in a graceful, perfect fashion.

But that wasn’t what got Alfred’s attention. It was that just below the man’s waist was a long, long mermaid tail, gold with shining scales, no two scales the exact same color, all varying shades of gold, some darker and some lighter, flipping and splashing the water. The tail and the skin molded perfectly together, the skin changing smoothly to fish scale, and it didn’t look anything at all like it had simply been put on-It looked like it was a part of the man himself.

But that was impossible. It was just...Impossible. Half-man, half-fish? What kind of madness was it? Clearly his eyes must be playing tricks on him. But no, the man was really there. And he was trapped- A fish net was around his body, and he was stuck between the rocks, desperately trying to escape them. Panic flared in the other’s eyes as he looked down at his tail, struggling to be free, but failing to free himself.

After Alfred got over the initial shock of seeing a mermaid, he got to his feet, the waves still splashing around him, and made his way over to the rocks once again. The mermaid looked up as Alfred leaned over to get a better look and froze, eyes wide, and immediately became tense, glaring at Alfred with a look of fury in his sea-colored eyes.

Alfred held a hand out, trying to offer help, but the mermaid hissed at him, attempting to scoot back, teeth slightly sharpened, bright white in the night, but failing to do so. Alfred stepped forward, ignoring the mermaid’s-or was it merman?-attempt to get away from him. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a Swiss Army Knife. An experience a few years ago taught him he should carry one with him at all times, and he leaned over the merman with it in hand.

When the merman spotted the blade, he began to struggle even more, in panic, eyes wide and flashing dangerously, not making any sound except for his tail splashing the waters and sending waves over Alfred and himself. Alfred ignored the water drenching his shirt and hair and reached over, grabbing the net and pulling the merman towards him.

At this, the merman began to panic even more, struggling to free and making Alfred’s job incredibly difficult. Frowning, Alfred lowered the knife to the merman’s chest, where the fishnet was knotted the most. As the blade lowered, the merman finally fell limp in defeat, watching with fear as the knife neared his skin. Alfred slipped the knife underneath the fishnet and the merman flinched, closing his eyes.

Alfred swiped the knife upwards, cutting through the fishnet, and continued to saw at it until the other’s chest and arms were free. As soon as the merman’s arms were free, he then began to try and pull the net over his head, thrashing violently, and Alfred cut the net from the merman’s tail. Soon, he was completely free, and as soon as the merman realized this, his body froze completely.

The merman’s eyes flickered up to meet his, and Alfred stared back. After a moment Alfred opened his mouth to say something, but the merman flipped onto his stomach and shot through a crack in two rocks, speeding out into the water, and when he was deep enough to go under, he ducked beneath the surface, gold tail flashing.

Staring after it, Alfred watched as the merman did a few dives, tail and skin shining like pure gold and silver in the light, awestruck. How could something that perfect...Exist? The man was beautiful, face seemingly carved from marble, smoothed and kissed with the sea water, tail shining, muscles rippling with every move. True, he did have very thick eyebrows, but yet, there was still something about him that was...Unworldly. 

Heck, he WAS unworldly. He was a merman, something from the sea, something that shouldn’t even exist.

Yet he did. Yet he really was there, and so was the fishnet, floating in the water, as was the Swiss Army Knife in his right hand, and so was the image of the merman slipping away gracefully in his mind, tail flapping and doing neat little tricks as he sped away as fast as he could.

Alfred continued to watch until the merman was a tiny dot in the distance, but then it seemed to stop. The pale dot moved back and forth for a moment before, amazingly, he began to swim back towards the rocks. Alfred was still frozen as the merman came closer and closer, and he finally got a proper look at him. His shoulders and figure seemed rather slender despite his muscle, and his hair was a bit long, not long enough to be in a ponytail, but it grew past his ears.

The sea green eyes were more of an emerald color, but as he neared closer and closer they turned even more sea-green. The merman stopped twenty feet from Alfred, no longer able to swim beneath. He flashed a curious look at Alfred before sliding back and forth, as if asking him to come closer. Something told Alfred that no, no, no he should not, but he stepped forward anyways, ignoring his fear of water.

With every step closer to the merman, fear mounting, Alfred began to regret his decision, but he kept moving forward, not wanting to stop for any reason. When he was five feet from the merman, a thought struck him. What if this was a trap? What if the merman planned to drag him under and drown him? He remembered stories of sirens, beautiful women who lured men to their deaths. Could this merman be planning to do the same? Wondering if he could talk to the merman, another thought struck his him. Could the merman speak English? 

“Hello,” Alfred said slowly, coming to a halt as the waves washed over his knees, still freezing cold, but he was no longer shivering, “Can you understand me?”

The merman just stared up at him, but his face went from curious to mocking, then to sarcastic and smug. The merman backed away slightly, smug expression still on, before, shocking Alfred, he spoke in perfect, fluent English in a British accent that shocked him.

“I’m not stupid you know, I can talk.”

Alfred just stared and stared. Amazing. Seriously? Was this a crazy, drug-influenced dream? Searching his memory to see if he remembered taking anything suspicious, but he recalled nothing of that sort. He then wondered why the merman had an English accent. Had he perhaps grew up in the waters around England? He wouldn’t think mermaids or mermen would have accents.

The merman continued to stare at him, a small smile coming to his lips, as if he knew exactly what Alfred was thinking. After a while, Alfred asked a very stupid question-

“Are you a merman?”

“Well, I might be, and I might not be,” the merman said sarcastically, flipping over and his tail splashing, flashing fold in the sunlight, “You tell me.”

“Ha, very funny, I actually can’t tell,” Alfred said, matching the merman’s sarcasm. After a brief pause, he said, “My name is Alfred.”

“I know,” The merman said simply, flipping back onto his stomach to stare up at Alfred with his sea-green eyes, lips curving up in a smirk. Shocked, Alfred blinked before stuttering,

“H-how do you know my name?”

“Well, all the other stupid people were shouting at it to you so you could go over, so I assumed your name was Alfred,” the merman answered, propping his chin up his elbows and studying Alfred, “You’re brother’s name is Mathias, isn’t it? Or was it Matthew? I forget.”

“Matthew,” Alfred said with surprise.

“Ahh, okay, I remember now,” The merman closed his eyes, the sea spray blowing around him, “And the loud white one was Gilbert, yes? The one with the spiky hair was Mathias, I think. Then there were the twins...I think they’re twins. They have curls. One was called Feliciano but I don’t recall the other’s name.”

“Uh, that would be Lovino,” Alfred said, lowering himself onto the ground and sitting, the waves having long soaked his clothes, and he didn’t really care anymore, “And they’re not twins, Lovino’s older.”

“Oh, well they look alike,” The merman shrugged, opening his eyes again, “The one with the curly hair was Antonio. He talked funny. It kind of annoys me. Then there was the woman with the huge top. Yekitty.”

“Yekaterina.”

“Same thing. And then there was the big German. Er….Ludwig? Yeah, Ludwig. Then a girl who liked to chase the white one with a big metal thing. Lizzy. Then there was the creepy girl that’s almost as white as Gilbert. Natasha.”

“The one with the frying pan was Elizaveta, and the ‘creepy girl’ was Natalia.” Alfred corrected, watching the merman. The merman just rolled his eyes and sighed,

“The point is, I’ve been watching you guys. You invaded our turf.”

“‘Our?’ There are more of you?!” Alfred asked, amazed, and at that moment, several heads poked out of the water, all creeping forward, and Alfred felt his heart rate increase. This felt like a trap…

“Of course there’s more of us, there’s not just one me,” The merman said, rolling his eyes. Alfred refocused on the five other mermen closing in, none of them mermaids.

One had neat, platinum blonde hair and a mysterious floating curl, and a cross hairclip, soulless eyes that were a sea blue. His skin was just as silvery pale as the merman in front of him, and his tail was varying shades of dark blue. The merman to the blue one’s right had shoulder-length strawberry colored hair and red eyes that steadily turned a light pink as he neared the water, with flecks of green-gray in them. His tail was varying shades of red, but towards the waist the scales became a lighter pink color with dashes of purples. His skin was not as pale as the gold and the blue mermaid’s, but it still shone in the light like the moon.

The merman closest to him had shoulder-length wavy blonde hair and ocean-blue eyes, his tail silver. It was not in different shades like the gold, the blue, and the red, but was just solid silver. He was a little more muscular than the first three, but not by much. Beard stubble grew on his chin and he flashed a grin. A fourth merman peeked curiously at Alfred, black hair cut short with soulless golden eyes strangely flecked with green-blue. Alfred was shocked to notice that he looked...Asian. Did mermaids and mermen have races? He wouldn’t think so…

The Asian merman’s tail was a gold-brown, also a solid color, not in varying shades. He didn’t have much muscle, if hardly any, and seemed rather feminine. The smallest of the mermen was a child about maybe thirteen or fourteen years old with silvery gray and wide purple eyes, which were streaked with ocean blue, a tail of solid purple and full of curiosity. Alfred looked at all the mermen, noting that they were all insanely beautiful and perfect.

It was almost like...Like they existed purely to lure women into their waters. Nothing alive could look this amazing. The water seemed to leave their skin kissed with drops but their hair remained unaffected. Their tails flashed and flipped, and Alfred was just..Captivated by them. But he was jerked back to reality when the first merman spoke.

“Normally, we would drown any humans that dared come close to us, but as you have saved my life...I suppose we can make an exception,” he hummed, amused, “So we will not kill you. My name is Arthur, and I lead this band of mermen and maids.”

“Excuse you,” The one with the red tail said, his teeth even more sharp than Arthur’s, and his voice reminded Alfred of something like ‘Welcome to Hotel Transylvania!’, “There are THREE leaders.”

“Ah, yes, whatever,” Arthur said, waving his hand impatiently, “This is Vlad the Annoying and Lukas the Mysterious. I am Arthur the Gentleman.”

Alfred stifled a laugh at these names. ‘Vlad the Annoying?’ ‘Arthur the Gentleman?’

“They are nicknames,” The one addressed as Lukas said when he noticed Alfred’s expression, and his accent reminded Alfred of people in Norway, “Really, our names are just Lukas and Francis and Kiku, but Arthur is stupid enough to give us those stupid nicknames.”

“Okay, Lukas the Mysterious,” Alfred said, still fighting to keep the laugh out of his voice. The one with the long blonde hair grinned and said,

“Bonjour, young Alfred. I am Francis. Or, as Arthur likes to call me, Francis the Pervert, Francis the Frog, Francis the Dickhead, really, the list just goes on and on.”

“Konnichiwa, I am Kiku. They call me Kiku the Shy.”

“And I am Emil. Arthur calls me Emil the Young-” at this, Emil shot Arthur a venomous glance, “-but whatever.”

Alfred nodded, and smiled. Cool, mermen…..

“Well, Alfred, now you must be warned-Do not come back to this side of the beach, or we will drown you,” Arthur warned, “Stay away.”

“What? Why?”

“Do not question us, human,” It was Francis who spoke, and his tone, which had been pleasant before, had suddenly turned harsh, “You are lucky we have not killed you yet!”

“I would like to see you try,” Alfred said, fighting to keep the laugh down, but it erupted out of him and his sides began to hurt from laughing so hard. Tears came to his eyes and he raised a hand to wipe them away but at that moment something large and heavy barreled into him, tackling him to the ground and pushing him under the water.

Struggling to free himself, Alfred opened his mouth to gasp but instead swallowed a mouthful of water as cold, freezing hands enclosed around his chest before moving up to his neck and squeezing, the strength of the merman keeping him down. Alfred gathered enough strength to push his shoulders off the ground and his head broke the surface, water spilling over his bottom lip, catching a glimpse of Francis and Emil watching coldly and Kiku flinching before he was forced back under, sharp nails digging into his shoulders and scratching, drawing blood and the cuts stung in the salt water.

Throat tightening, no air in his lungs, Alfred struggled, but his legs were pinned down by the heavy tail of a merman and his head began to pound and he raised his arms, struggling to push the merman off of him before lifting his head again, gasping air as the merman struggled in his grip. The hands of the merman pressed against his chest and forced him back under water, and Alfred’s glasses slipped off his face, rendering everything blurry and hard to make out.

The water was numbing his face, his chest, his arms, his legs. Alfred tried to shove the merman off of him but the weight was much more than you would have imagined. Alfred coughed and inhaled more water, his vision blackening at the edges and his head pounding from the inside. Alfred felt the fingernails dig into his chest and scratch down, tearing the fabric of his shirt and he brought a fist to move it sluggishly through the water, before using any and all strength to punch the merman back. The weight lessened and he sat up, the merman sitting his lap and hissing at him.

It was the one with the blue tail, Lukas, teeth bared, sharp like the other’s, platinum blonde hair soaked, no longer unaffected as it had seemed earlier, eyes glaring and bright with venom. Alfred felt the blood seeping from his wounds and struggled to breathe properly again as the merman spat in his face,

“Do you see what we are capable of now, human?”

Alfred nodded his head, eyes wide and panting hard, and Lukas finally slipped off his waist and swam back over to his spot next to Vlad. Arthur turned to face the others and said something in a language they didn’t know. Francis protested, but he eventually gave in and the other five swam away. When they did, Alfred turned to Arthur, having found his glasses again.

“Your friend could have killed me!”

“But he did not,” Arthur said, smiling. Alfred couldn’t help but note he was really good-looking, and fought down the urge to kiss the other. What kind of mermaid powers was this merman influencing him under?!

“Well...He came close,” Alfred said. Arthur laughed, then became serious once again.

“I am serious, landman. Do not come here again.”

“But…” Alfred struggled for words for a moment before saying, “Can you stay here a little bit more before you go away? I’ve never met a merman before. It’ll be interesting. I’ll tell you all about me and you tell me all about you.”

Arthur paused, before sighing and saying,

“I guess, as you did choose to free me from the net instead of kill me, as most landmen would do….”

And so they sat and exchanged life stories. Alfred explained about his friends dragging him here, his fear of water, and how he had been walking along the beach to get over his fear. Arthur told of his rivalry with Francis, how he and Kiku were close friends, and how he, Lukas, and Vlad were the first mermen in a long time to be able to use magic. Alfred thought that maybe it was the magic that was drawing him to the good-looking merman. 

“So...This was fun,” Alfred said, looking up as he noticed the first rays of sunlight peeking out from the distance, “I know more about you than I do half my friends!”

“Hmm. Well, it was nice conversing with somebody that wasn’t Lukas or Kiku or Emil or just...Well, anybody in our group. It gets tiring talking to the same people over and over again,” Arthur admitted. Alfred nodded, shivering slightly. Great. He would probably get hypothermia, and the others were probably worrying about him. He then had a thought and asked,

“You guys won’t hurt all my friends, will you?”

“Not unless they venture over here,” Arthur said, staring up at him with those beautiful sea-green eyes….Alfred couldn’t tell if he really felt something for the merman, or it was just lustful love powers the merman might be using on him. Either way, he wanted to hold his hand really bad….

The merman scooted closer to him, eyes half-lidded, and Alfred leaned towards him, eyes wide. There lips met for a few brief seconds, and Alfred tasted salt on the other’s lips before Arthur pulled away, saying lightly,

“Don’t fall in love with a merman, Alfred.”

“I-” Alfred began, but Arthur cut him off.

“It is dangerous. This could never work. I live in the sea and you live on land. There is nothing in between that. Don’t comeback. The others won’t hesitate to kill you.”

“But I-” Alfred began to say, but Arthur sped away, gold tail flashing in the rising sun. Eyes wide, Alfred stared in the distance for ten whole minutes before getting to his feet and walking back to the cabin.

When he got back, Lovino and Feliciano came rushing out, Feliciano throwing a blanket over him and Lovino supporting his weight indoors. Alfred sat down and instantly passed out from exhaustion.

When he woke up, he was staring into the violet eyes of his brother, who was glaring at him intensely.

“Where the hell were you last night?!”

“On a walk,” Alfred said, straightening up in his bed, glancing around to make sure he was alone, “Hey, can I tell you something? And you swear not to think I’m crazy?”

“Depends,” Matthew sighed, sitting back with his arms crossed. Alfred took a deep breath and began to tell of how he had saved Arthur and met the other mermen, and how he and Arthur swapped stories until the kiss, and Arthur’s abrupt departure. At the end, Alfred added,

“I’m going after him tonight.”

“What?” Matthew asked, shocked, eyes wide, “What, no! Are you crazy? He said they’ll kill you!”

“Maybe I can reason,” Alfred said, “He was sort of their leader, and if I can mention something about him promising me I could come close without them hurting me, I can ask to see Arthur! I can make this work. I love him.”

 

“Al,” Matthew said slowly, eyes wide, “You don’t know Arthur. You barely met. You had one kiss. How can you love him? Those mermen are dangerous!”

 

“I can reason, and nothing you say will change my mind, Mattie.”

Matthew stared at him for a long time before sighing and pressing his face to hands. After a while he said,

“Fine. Just promise to bring your Swiss Army Knife.”

“Deal.”

 

That whole day, Alfred was fidgety, wanting to see Arthur again. He still wasn’t sure what brought this attraction to the merman-Maybe it was just some spell of merman’s magic, but whenever a thought like this entered his mind, Alfred pushed it to the back of his mind, not wanting to think about it.

The day progressed slowly and Alfred finally joined his friends in the water, laughing, but not going any farther than waist-length. He got over the night before fast, not shivering as much, and played several games in the water until they retired into the cabin.

After eating two burgers, Alfred bade his brother good-bye before setting off, Swiss Army Knife tucked inside his pocket. As he walked, Alfred smoothed his hair back and adjusted his shirt-He wanted to look nice. Halfway through, a thought came to mind. What if they saw the knife and assumed he had come to hurt them? He wouldn’t need it. No, just as long as he reasoned with them…  
And so he threw the knife into the woods, his mind fogged, not thinking right as he neared the spot where he had found Arthur the not before, something tugging him closer to the place. Alfred walked to the shoreline near the rocks and looked out at the sea, calm, rolling waves splashing one after another.

Alfred took a few steps into the water, eyes scanning the dark waters for a flash of gold. He did not see any gold, or silver, or purple, or any color at all. Disappointed, Alfred went to turn around before he thought that maybe they might lurk in deeper waters.

Alfred continued forward until the water was to his chest. He continued searching for any flashes of gold, the silvery skin of a merman. Still seeing nothing, Alfred swam forward. Well, he never learned how to swim, but after a few attempts, he was at least able to stay atop and not sink under.

“Arthur?” Alfred called, turning around slowly, looking for the spiky blond head of the merman he had grown attracted to in a short amount of time, “Arthur, I came here to see you!”

He spotted something to his left-A flash of silver. The skin of a merman. Whirling around excitedly, Alfred grinned and searched for Arthur. A smooth set of scales brushed against his leg, slippery, and slid past, and he shivered. Searching so he could pinpoint Arthur’s exact location, Alfred had another memory of the salty taste of Arthur’s lips and he shivered, smiling. Soon, he would see the beauty again…

A flash of silver scales directly in front of him, followed by blue. Racking his memory for the memory of their names, Alfred recalled them and said,

“Francis? Lukas? Guys, can you guys get Arthur for me?”

 

Something lashed at his leg and left a bloody mark there-He could feel it stinging. Flinching, Alfred began to have a terribly ominous feeling. Heart thumping against his chest, he stuttered,

“I j-just want to see Arthur…”

“We told you not to come here,” Came a Norwegian-accented voice. Alfred gulped and nodded, before saying,

“R-right, I’ll be leaving now…”

Alfred turned to swim away but something grabbed onto his leg and yanked him beneath the water. Eyes wide, Alfred thrashed, but they wouldn’t let go. Twisting around, he saw Francis and Lukas glaring at him, Lukas’s eyes indigo and Francis’s a darker blue than before, faces dark and shadowed, teeth bared, skin ghastly, looking hideous, nothing like the beautiful men he had seen before.

Their sharp nails dug into his thighs and shins, dragging him down, and Alfred struggled to escape, screaming, swallowing gulps of water. His head began to pound and his vision blurred red, chest tightening. The mermen continued to drag him downwards, and were a blur of scale and skin and hair and claws and everything horrible.

Alfred had a fleeting image of Arthur staring at him with emotionless eyes before Lukas blocked him and continued to press him down.

~*~*~*~*~*~

“Have you guys seen Al? He was supposed to be back an hour ago,” Matthew asked the others. They shook their heads, eyes wide with worry, and Matthew sighed before saying,

“I’m going to go look for him.”

He began to walk to the place Alfred had told him where the merman resided, and saw Yekaterina and Gilbert accompany him. They walked for hours until they reached the dark rocks Alfred told Matthew about.

“He said he was coming here,” Matthew told the other two. Gilbert frowned.

“Here? Why here?”

“Something crazy,” Matthew said, shaking his head, “You wouldn’t believe-”

Yekaterina screamed and Matthew spun around to face her, but she was staring out at the shore. Matthew turned to see where she was looking and his face paled.

Alfred lay on the shore, pale, obviously dead, with scratches son his legs and chest, body limps, and there were words painted in blood on his shirt-

“Never fall in love with a merman.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally supposed to be a very fluffy, cute UsUk one-shot. Obviously I can’t do cute anymore, because THIS happened. XD 
> 
> So, to clear up any confusion, Francis and Lukas killed Alfred by drowning him. Arthur probably used some sort of mermaid spell to make Alfred fall in love with him. Or maybe he didn’t. You may never know~
> 
> I.PROMISE. TO. WRITE. FLUFF. Eventually…~
> 
> HOPE YOU ENJOYED (or not) THIS ONE-SHOT!
> 
> And I now notice that America has YET AGAIN BEEN SCREWED! Guys, I swear, I don’t hate America. I don’t. Seriously, I love America.
> 
> KittyMagicite: Back off bitch -^-


End file.
